Systems Management, Database Software Markets Grew in 2011: IDC

Defying a weak economy, the global database and systems management markets grew in 2011, according to new reports from IDC.

The worldwide systems
management and database software markets grew significantly through 2011,
despite a weak global economy, according to two Dec. 21 reports from IDC.
IDC's Worldwide Semiannual
System Management Software Tracker showed that the global systems management
software market is expected to reach $15.4 billion by the close of 2011. That's
a 9.2 percent increase from the 2010 level.

IDC's Tracker monitors more
than 110 vendors globally in a total of 49 countries, providing biannual market
size, vendor share and forecast data for the six functional markets that make
up the system management software market in IDC's software taxonomy.

"The system management
software market achieved double-digit growth during the first half of
2011," said analyst Wilvin Chee. "The change and configuration
management, and workload scheduling and automation markets maintained the best
growth among the functional, but the strongest gains were in the event management
market, fueled significantly by the U.S., Japan and CEMA [Central and
Eastern Europe and Middle East and Africa]."
Among the six functional
markets, three had revenue of more than $1 billion for the first half of 2011.
These were change and configuration management (CCM), workload scheduling and
automation (WSA), and performance management. All three markets experienced
very strong growth in the United States, while other regions such as Western
Europe and CEMA also had good year-over-year growth. Canada and the Asia-Pacific
region (excluding Japan) had somewhat lower growth in the first half of 2011,
compared with previous cycles, but maintained double-digit momentum. Japan and
Latin America held steady growth in most markets.
"The first half of 2011
results show continued healthy growth in worldwide system management software
revenue," said analyst Tim Grieser. "Growth was fueled by increases
in IT spending due to the continuing economic recovery and associated hardware
refresh and upgrade cycles, and new investments in managing virtualized and
cloud infrastructures. Automation to simplify and optimize IT operational costs
was a key factor."

IBM, BMC and Hewlett-Packard
held the top three spots in terms of revenue share in the first half, though
none were able to generate growth exceeding the market average. IBM and BMC had
solid growth in the WSA market while HP achieved its best gains in the CCM and
problem management markets.
Meanwhile, a number of
vendors, including Microsoft, Hitachi, NEC, VMWare, Symantec and Dell, enjoyed
above market average growth in the first half of the year. Microsoft, NEC and VMware
performed well in all the system management software markets where they
compete. IDC also observed that a total of 14 vendors achieved worldwide
revenue of more than $100 million in the first six months of 2011.
The systems management
market has not been the only bright spot in the enterprise IT arena. IDC is
also reporting that the global database and data integration software market is
expected to end 2011 with 11.6% growth.
"We expect the database and
data integration market to experience year-over-year growth of 11.6% in 2011,
reaching a total market size of $35.5 billion," said Chee. "While the
relational database management software market should grow at the same rate,
the best improvement will be seen in the database development and management tools
market, where year-over-year growth of more than 300% is expected."
IDC garnered the figures
from its Worldwide Semiannual Database and Data Integration Software Tracker.
The Tracker monitors more than 100 key vendors across a total of 49 countries, provides
biannual market size, vendor share, and forecast data for the four market
segments involved - relational database management systems (RDBMS), nonrelational
database management systems, data integration and access software (DIA), and
database development and management tools (DDMTs).
"The need for better
overall management in enterprises has expressed itself in initiatives to
collect and manage high quality, trusted data for use in decision support as
well as driving increasingly automated business processes," said analyst
Carl Olofson. "This has resulted in strong growth for database management
systems, data quality, dynamic data movement, and other software that supports
growing efforts in the areas of master data management, data governance and enterprise
data integration."

Frank J. Ohlhorst is the Executive Technology Editor for eWeek Channel Insider and brings with him over 20 years of experience in the Information Technology field.He began his career as a network administrator and applications program in the private sector for two years before joining a computer consulting firm as a programmer analyst. In 1988 Frank founded a computer consulting company, which specialized in network design, implementation, and support, along with custom accounting applications developed in a variety of programming languages.In 1991, Frank took a position with the United States Department of Energy as a Network Manager for multiple DOE Area Offices with locations at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPL), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), FermiLAB and the Ames Area Office (AMESAO). Frank's duties included managing the site networks, associated staff and the inter-network links between the area offices. He also served at the Computer Security Officer (CSO) for multiple DOE sites. Frank joined CMP Technology's Channel group in 1999 as a Technical Editor assigned to the CRN Test Center, within a year, Frank became the Senior Technical Editor, and was responsible for designing product testing methodologies, assigning product reviews, roundups and bakeoffs to the CRN Test Center staff.In 2003, Frank was named Technology Editor of CRN. In that capacity, he ensured that CRN maintained a clearer focus on technology and increased the integration of the Test Center's review content into both CRN's print and web properties. He also contributed to Netseminar's, hosted sessions at CMP's Xchange Channel trade shows and helped to develop new methods of content delivery, Such as CRN-TV.In September of 2004, Frank became the Director of the CRN Test Center and was charged with increasing the Test Center's contributions to CMP's Channel Web online presence and CMP's latest monthly publication, Digital Connect, a magazine geared towards the home integrator. He also continued to contribute to CMP's Netseminar series, Xchange events, industry conferences and CRN-TV.In January of 2007, CMP Launched CRNtech, a monthly publication focused on technology for the channel, with a mailed audience of 70,000 qualified readers. Frank was instrumental in the development and design of CRNTech and was the editorial director of the publication as well as its primary contributor. He also maintained the edit calendar, and hosted quarterly CRNTech Live events.In June 2007, Frank was named Senior Technology Analyst and became responsible for the technical focus and edit calendars of all the Channel Group's publications, including CRN, CRNTech, and VARBusiness, along with the Channel Group's specialized publications Solutions Inc., Government VAR, TechBuilder and various custom publications. Frank joined Ziff Davis Enterprise in September of 2007 and focuses on creating editorial content geared towards the purveyors of Information Technology products and services. Frank writes comparative reviews, channel analysis pieces and participates in many of Ziff Davis Enterprise's tradeshows and webinars. He has received several awards for his writing and editing, including back to back best review of the year awards, and a president's award for CRN-TV. Frank speaks at many industry conferences, is a contributor to several IT Books, holds several records for online hits and has several industry certifications, including Novell's CNE, Microsoft's MCP.Frank can be reached at frank.ohlhorst@ziffdavisenterprise.com